Method of cleaning-out oil wells



Aug. 10, 1937. A. M. HERBSMAN METHOD OF CLEIAIJIIG-OUT` OIL WELLS Filed May 26, 1936 alIlIII-l i Patented Aug. 10,1937

UNlTl-:D STATES PATENT oFFlcs minion or CLEANING-oor omwms aannam M. Henman, Huntington ruk, caux.,

um w industrial ranno, Limited. nunsington Park, Calif., a corporation of California "nppuauynmy ze. 193s, sel-u1 n. snm

1 (ci. lss-zn This invention relates to the petroleum producing art Vand particularly to theproblems involved i n maintaining wells in a productive condition.' i 5 Itv often occurs in petroleum wells that the for.- mation adjacent the lower end of the well tbecomes more or less clogged with Vparaffin and mud so as to obstruct the seepageof oil into the well. Where the well is in production the parafiin Aalso hinders the pumping of thefoil from the well. In'some instances the condition abovementioned occurs before the well Vhas been brought into production and in other instances after the well has been in -production for a more 15 "or less considerable period of time. Whenever a well thus becomesclogged up it is necessary that this condition be relieved by some means before the well may again be profitably operated. It is an object of my invention to provide a ou method of cleaning out paramn and mud from a well so as to return such well to a productive condition.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing object as well as further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic vertical sectional view of a dumping device being lowered in a well in 30 the carrying out of the method of my invention,

a. substantial portion of said device being broken away to illustrate the interior thereof.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the dumping valve employed on the device illustrated in Fig. l.

35 Fig. 3 is a. view similar to Fig. l illustrating the dumping of a quantity of chemical from the aforesaid dumping device in the bottom of a well.

. Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 ls an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

I will now refer speclcally to the drawing wherein I have disclosed the principal element of the apparatus of my invention, which com- 45 prises: a dump device I0 including a tubular barrel Il having a head i2. a. releasable dump valve I3, a plunger Il, and a dump suspension and plunger operating tackle i4. by which the dump is suspended from a cable l5.

The plunger il has a plunger rod 2l, which extends upwardly therefrom through a central aperture in the barrel head I2 and is provided at its upper end with a. cable spider 2|. Mounted on the head I2 of the barrel Il are three pulleys 55 25. as shown in Fig. 5.

Secured upon the `lower end of the cable Ii is a cable head 3l, to which are connected three cables 3i, which extend downwardly through apertures 32 provided in the spider 2l. These cables then pass around the pulleys 25, return upwardly to the spider 2l, extend through suitable apertures therein, and are provided'with clamps 3l. as shown in Fig. 4. which fasten the cable ends to the spider. It is thus seen that when the device il is suspended from the cable i5 the weight of the deyice tends, through the tackle Il, to force the plunger rod 20 and the plunger head -II downwardly.

The barrel il is imperforate and has a `valve seat I0 at its` lower end. The` dump valve I3 may be of any desired construction to effect a dumping` of the contents of the barrel il when this is desired and the valve shown herein is for illustrative purposes only. The valve i3 comprises a conical body Il provided at its apex with one or more flexible members. such as cables 42 which are secured to the barrel il as by clamp bolts 43. Ihe valve Il has a web Il which is apertured to flexibly receive a vertical latch release shaft l5 having a plate I6 on its lower end and a stop nut Il on its upper end. The valve I3 has an annular seating ange 49 which is adapted to he pressed towards the seat lli to press a ring of packing 4! between said seat and this flange to tightly close the lower end of the barrel Ii. Provided in suitable recesses formed in the outer surface of the barrel li are spring latches 5I having latch heads 5I which are adapted to spring into latched positions over the flange 4B to hold the valve il in place when it is pushed into sealing relation with the seat 40. Provided on the conical valve body li so that they can be positioned opposite the latches 50 are lugs 52 which provide guideways for release bars 53. the latter being connected by links 5l to the latch release shaft 45.

Operation my invention the head i2 of the dump device lli is unscrewed from the barrel Il thereof, the plunger Il is withdrawn from the barrel, and the dump valve i3 is pushed in place in the lower end of the barrel as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

, I now place in the barrel I l a quantity of chemical which, in the carrying out of my method,l

it is desired to introduce into well 60. This chemical consists of metallicy sodium or metallic potassium.4 As is well known in the art, it is necessary to keep these metals insulated from the atmosphere and from all moisture to prevent rapid chemical combination of these metals with the elements. The common method of doing this is to immerse `these metals in an insulating liquid and in carrying loutmy` method I maintainthe sodium or potassium, whichever may be used, immersed in a bath of kerosene. Assuming that sodium is to be used, a mass S of this metal, cut up in small fragments and submerged at all times in kerosene, is now loaded into the barrel H of the dump device l and the plunger I4 and bar# rel head l2 are then installed'in the upper end of the barrel, as shown in Fig. 1.

The entire device l0 is then'suspended on the cable l5 and the device I 0 lowered through theA casing 6l into the well 60. 'Ihe downward move` ment of the-device is continued byI paying out on the cable IS'untl the plate 46 Yof the dump valve I3 touches the bottom of the Well and forces the latch release bars 53 outwardly. releasing Vthe latches 50 and permitting ,the dump valve I3 to hang downwardly on the cables 42, as shown in Fig. 3. When this takes placel the weight of'rthe dump device I9 on vthe tackle I4 causes the latter to force the rod 20 and plunger i4 downwardly discharging the mass S of sodium into the lower end of the enlarged chamber 62 of thewell 60.

VThe operation of my process is enhanced bythe presence of some water in theoil at the bottomloiI theiwell-GU and the reaction which takes place between this water and the sodium, when the latter; is-y discharged from rthe .dump device I0. Where the oil 'at the bottom of the well isk relatively i'ree from water thev process of my invention embraces the further step of introducing water or an aqueous solution of suitable chemical such as caustic soda, caustic potash, aqua ammonia or some other ammonium salt or by an oxidizing agent such as sodium hypochlorite or 0f any combination of these solutions. Thus, the introduction of water or aqueous solution in the well in my process may either precede or follow the introduction of metallic sodium or potassiumas hereinabove prescribed. This water or solution may be poured directly downthe casing 60 from the top of the well oramay be introduced into the bottom of the well by any of the well known means available.

While potassium and sodium are solids at ordinary"temperatures,"these may be preparedl in a colloidallfo'rm, which is a liquid, and may thus be used in carrying out the process of my inventionas above-described. Where a well is in pro- -duction and the pump tubing and pump become clogged with parafn the'process may be carried out by the 'introduction of colloidal sodium or colloidal potassium in a liquid form into the pump tubing or casing -of the Welland permitting the colloidal metal to flow down the well from the upper end ,thereof. In this manner the casing or pump tubing, as the caser maybe, is cleaned y out throughoutv its length and rendered suitabl 

